Unless I’m mixing something up (has been known to happen) I don’t think Shane Black had anything to do with “Die Hard”. That other maestro of 80s American action, Steven E. De Souza, is a co-writer though.

Although I have been known to enjoy some of the goofy charms of Lethal Weapon, that film doesn’t hold a candle to Die Hard. Even Die Hard’s derivative and mostly uninspired sequels are better than Lethal Weapon’s (I say mostly, because there’s about 15 minutes early in Die Hard 3 with Willis and Jackson riffing off each other that’s funny). Plus per capita, Die Hard beats Lethal Weapon for most mullets.

One of the few appearances of Hart Bochner, who was Hollywood’s up-and-coming IT man for all of 15 minutes when he was cast in this. And who wouldn’t be Hollywood’s IT man with a name like that? After turning a supporting role in Supergirl into a starring role in Apartment Zero, Bochner couldn’t turn this and Zero into anything. Only a very young Colin Ferth got his due from Zero.

And classic evil 80′s-era Asian everyman Al Leong, in what remains one of the funnier sight-gags in the film. Plus Al is also in Lethal Weapon, suffering one of the most ridiculous head-snapping deaths ever recorded to film (while I’m not an expert, I’d be willing to bet killing someone with your ankles is much harder than Mel Gibson makes it look).

But my favorite henchman in Die Hard is still Dennis Hayden, who looks weirdly like an evil Huey Lewis in Die Hard. I’ve always thought it would have been a nice Easter egg to discover that McTiernan cast a specific character actor resembling each active member of the News too, and that there was an outtake of them karaoking The Heart of Rock and Roll at the wrap party.